MILK
Class III milk futures could not extend the gains of yesterday even though cheese prices remained steady. Steady cheese prices do not necessarily indicate the market has found support. The inability of cheese to increase put some pressure on milk futures. However, the August contract closed 17 cents higher. Contracts in 2023 were generally unchanged. Class IV futures took more of a beating due to the weakness of butter and nonfat dry milk. Overall trading activity was light as traders were uncertain of what to do. The Global Dairy Trade auction took place today with the trade weighted average declining 5.0% from the previous event. There were 149 bidders with 23,219 metric tons of product sold. Anhydrous milk fat declined 2.1% from the previous event with a price of $5,580 per metric ton or $2.53 per pound. Butter declined 2.1% to $5,530 per metric ton or $2.52 per pound. Cheddar cheese declined 2.0% to $4,825 per metric ton or $2.19 per pound. Skim milk powder fell 8.6% to $3,709 per metric ton or $1.68 per pound. Whole milk powder declined 5.1% to $3,757 per metric ton or $1.70 per pound.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $21.15 |
| 6 Month: | $20.96 |
| 9 Month: | $20.54 |
| 12 Month: | $20.19 |
CHEESE
It is difficult to predict where the bottom might be for cheese. It is difficult to determine the level of demand that will be seen throughout the rest of the year. Right now, buyers are not sure if they should increase ownership of supply to make sure they have sufficient cheese purchased for upcoming demand. Yet, these are attractive prices for purchasing as a hedge against higher prices. Sellers might not want to sell lower than current prices. This might keep the market balanced for the near term.
BUTTER
There continues to be a large amount of butter finding a way to the daily spot market. It is rather surprising that a large volume of trading continues to be accomplished rather than much of the buying and selling taking place through regular channels. Cream remains available for churning keeping plants as full as they want to be. Problems remain over having sufficient employees. Some continue to have difficulties maintaining a full production staff along with having the lack of trucks to move product.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
September corn fell 15.50 cents closing at $5.9675. August soybeans lost 20 cents closing at $14.7725 with August soybean meal up $0.50 ending at $435.00 per ton. September wheat slipped $0.50 cent closing at $8.1225. August live cattle gained $0.10 closing at $135.72. August crude oil gained $1.62 closing at $104.22 per barrel. The DOW jumped 754 points closing at 31,827 while the NASDAQ gained 353 points closing at 11,713.
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